It's a bit early to be making broad statements about the title challengers, but broad statements promote debate, and I'm all about the debating. This season will be a 2 horse race between Chelsea and Arsenal for the premier league.

Man Utd simply lack any flair what so ever, Liverpool sadly have blown it by not having enough players who can play football, and Manchester City don't seem to have the right manager just yet.

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This Sunday was fairly familiar for me. I was sporting a cracking hangover and woke up wondering what happened the previous night. The ‘Big Clash' of the day, as usual, didn't match the hype that it was given. Patrice Evra failed to remember he's a great left-back against Chelsea and an angry Scotsmen made more comments about a referee.

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Another weekend passes us by and still the big teams are falling over themselves to not take the initiative in the Premiership title race. Of the top 6 teams, only Chelsea won making the league one on the most open in recent history. Over the past few seasons, one or two teams have really stood out come the end of October.

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Stuff to read while you miss the sitter of the season........... Big Four is dwindling. (EPL Talk) Rogerio Ceni scores again. (See The Cup) Reviewing The Damned United. (Unprofessional Foul) Barca still the beesneeze. (SoccerLens) A cokehead's booze line. (Dirty Tackle) Just what is Southgategate? (Fisted Away) Help name that city. Click to continue reading...

They Think It's All Over... is bemused by the scheduling of Everton's Carling Cup tie with Tottenham. Click to continue reading...

After seeing both Chelsea and Liverpool lose at the weekend, Manchester City boss Mark Hughes has dismissed claims of a Premier League top four. There's no doubting that City, Everton, Tottenham, and Aston Villa are all doing their best to break up the top four's stranglehold, and recent results have indicated that things won't be easy for England's top clubs.

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Big Story
It might be early in the season, but the obituary notices are already being written in England: the Big Four is dead. Remember the Big Five from the 1980s (Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal, Tottenham, Everton)?

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. Manchester City were up against the first of the ‘Big Four' since their splash on the transfer market, and the Eastlands club came out of the encounter with flying colours. Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia bled his side when he made a mistake that saw him being marked down as the scorer, but for all the wrong [. Click to continue reading...

Big result in the Premier League today as Manchester City beat Arsenal 4-2. This not only provides them with their first league win over "Big Four" opposition this season, but also keeps their 100% record in tact. Alright so they've only played 4 games, but 4 wins out of 4 is [...] Click to continue reading...

That the EPL is the best championship in the world is plain for everyone to see. The teams are far and away the strongest, most physical, and quickest. With exceptions to super teams like Barcelona, the four Premier League teams involved in the Champions League can (and do) knock off foreign opposition rather easily.

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The buildup to the English Premier League season, at least in the past few years, always includes a discussion about a potential shakeup in the top four places. Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea...

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It's impossible to see Manchester United relegated from the Premier League...well ever, especially if Sir Alex Ferguson can deliver more success and then can pick a worthy successor to take his place once he retires. United have been so thriving so much recently, that it's difficult to imagine Ferguson letting the club's owner Malcolm Glazer in having too much of a say in who succeeds him.

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It's the perennial discussion, still going on: Can "competitive balance" be enforced by government decree? Andy Burnham, British Culture Secretary, thinks it can. Andy Burnham, the Culture Secretary, is calling for Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool to share their winnings in Europe with other Premier League teams. Click to continue reading...

As we near the end of what has been and still is an exciting season in the EPL, the various gongs and awards are being given out. As usual, they create plenty of controversy, particularly in the case of Ryan Giggs, who was named Footballer of the Year despite only starting 12 league games this season.

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Those of us round long enough to remember the Ipswichs, Blackburns and QPRs of old running rampant in the early days of the Premier League may have winced listening to Setanta's commentators gag with delight as Dossena's lobbed long ball made it Liverpool 4, Manchester United 1.  "This is why this is the greatest league [. Click to continue reading...

I watched this one at the bar, slamming my fist down at how Reo-Coker and Barry can't seem to remember how to make a clear, decisive pass to get the ball up to Young and Gabby. Not that it would have helped much anyway—both runners seem to have run themselves out ages ago. Where is Agbonlahor's swagger? Click to continue reading...

Jonathan Wilson, the inimitable scholar of tactical mechanics with his recent Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics (a book I included in a piece on tactical reductionism for this website) has made a very convincing argument why English Premier League clubs have come to dominate the Champions League in the last four seasons. Click to continue reading...

We still have a bit of catching up to do on Blue Hawks as we continue to review the recent football activities, but sometimes a story presents itself that demands coverage. Seems like the the boss of Premier League leading Liverpool has taken it upon himself to be the self-annoited spokesperson for the other 18 managers in the EPL by launching a full-fledged assault on Man United boss, Alex Ferguson. Click to continue reading...

This Doesn't Work
Lest this become a Villa blog.
And yet.
Our seasons tend to be lost around this time of year. After a marvelous bit of overperforming in the Fall, the Villa boys usually put away their rocket packs just in time for Christmas, losing in undignified fashion over the break after trying to play the long-ball away from home, then sputtering out in Jan/Feb in order to set up a thrilling push for the UEFA Cup spots in May. Click to continue reading...

This is my first submission to EPL Talk, so I would like to extend a big thanks and cheers to the Gaffer for inviting me to join the team.  I'm excited to be a member of a top notch network of football enthusiasts and commentators.  I hope I can help maintain the high standards set [...] Click to continue reading...

1. The Big Four are Back No, not that big four. The other one. The top four Premier League teams are now Chelsea, Liverpool, Man Utd and Arsenal. No more Hull City, and Aston Villa missed their opportunity to join the party. You have to worry about Arsenal a little, but looks like this could be [...] Click to continue reading...

A Reading from the Blog of A More Splendid Life, Post 133.
1. After he had eaten the lunch that he had prepared there, Richard said to them, "Yea verily I say unto you, the US Presidential election is like a football match between a widely-supported underdog and a once-mighty but now-struggling Big Four side. Click to continue reading...

Aside from most of their fans, we can safely say that most of the Premier League's fans dislike the monopoly that is the Big Four. Notice that even just over a year ago we still had to say the 'so called' Big Four, before saying the name of each club. It has certainly become much more set in stone. I though, do not particularly mind the Big Four. Click to continue reading...

Though I'm sure the Man City takeover has been brewing for some time, for the general public it all happened in a flash yesterday. All of a sudden Man City were (all but) owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Investment and Development and had insane amounts of money to spend. They livened up transfer [. Click to continue reading...

The end of the 05-06 season which saw Tottenham cruelly lose out on a Champions League place due to an 'accidental' food poisoning, gave birth to the ongoing debate as to whether Spurs should be finishing in the top 4. However, I believe this debate has been blown out of proportion. Spurs, before 2006, were a [. Click to continue reading...